For the first time ever, no Pirates broadcasts on KDKA when the season opens in just a few days. The Pirates seem to be interested in developing a younger audience and think that their move to FM will help that cause. What do you think the impact of the move will be?
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No Bucs on KDKA
- Thread starter Call Me Sherlock
- Start date
Call Me Sherlock said:For the first time ever, no Pirates broadcasts on KDKA when the season opens in just a few days. The Pirates seem to be interested in developing a younger audience and think that their move to FM will help that cause. What do you think the impact of the move will be?
I don't think that simply moving the Pirates games to FM will attract a younger audience. If you're a Pirates fan or a baseball fan, you'll go to AM or FM, wherever the Pirates happen to be. It makes no difference. Though many Pittsburgh pro and college sports games are now being aired on FM stations, I don't think it's having any real impact on the suburban AM's surrounding the area that are carrying the same thing. If you like Steeler football, you won't care what station it's on...as long as it's on SOMEWHERE.
The only thing bad about the Bucs not being on a 50KW blowtourch is of course night time out of the region listening. In the past while on vacation along the east coast I could catch the games at night. I wonder if Clear Channel has given consideration to running Pirate night games on WWVA instead of WBBD in Wheeling WV. Once again nighttime east coast distant listeners could hear the game. The only downside to this for WWVA would be how much revenue 1170 would loose from the paid religion aired, or maybe it would be a wash...or maybe the paid religion could run overnight...oh well :-\
Just a thought.
Continue to vent Bucco Fans!
Just a thought.
Continue to vent Bucco Fans!
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
I don't think that simply moving the Pirates games to FM will attract a younger audience.
Maybe they might try winning more games. That would be an interesting and unusual change of pace for the Pirates.
Maybe they might try winning more games. That would be an interesting and unusual change of pace for the Pirates.
"I don't think that simply moving the Pirates games to FM will attract a younger audience."
Their box office success ultimately comes down to the product they put on the field. The advantage with Clear Channel is CC is better positioned to help promote the team. One of the players or broadcasters will have a spot on DVE's morning show. There are similar arrangements with The X and 3WS.
CBS didn't do much outside promotion on its other stations.
If they're going to lose 95 games again, it doesn't matter much. If they ever show some improvement, the promotional abilities of CC will be a help.
Their box office success ultimately comes down to the product they put on the field. The advantage with Clear Channel is CC is better positioned to help promote the team. One of the players or broadcasters will have a spot on DVE's morning show. There are similar arrangements with The X and 3WS.
CBS didn't do much outside promotion on its other stations.
If they're going to lose 95 games again, it doesn't matter much. If they ever show some improvement, the promotional abilities of CC will be a help.
Boss Radio said:"I don't think that simply moving the Pirates games to FM will attract a younger audience."
Their box office success ultimately comes down to the product they put on the field. The advantage with Clear Channel is CC is better positioned to help promote the team. One of the players or broadcasters will have a spot on DVE's morning show. There are similar arrangements with The X and 3WS.
CBS didn't do much outside promotion on its other stations.
If they're going to lose 95 games again, it doesn't matter much. If they ever show some improvement, the promotional abilities of CC will be a help.
It's a good point, Boss. But CBS isn't in any worse of a financial situation than Clear Channel. They had every opportunity to do these things you just mentioned while the Bucs were on KD. Lanny Fraterre and Steve Blass did pre-season interviews with Pirates' affiliate stations from Bradenton.
If the Pirates or Clear Channel is hoping to attract a younger audience by putting the Pirates on an FM station, this is the wrong way to do it. This is conditioning the younger listeners than AM is bad, rather than pointing out the merits of how AM can be good...and still is good.
The lack of promotion wasn't a financial issue for CBS, it was more creative/organizational.
The Pirates have no need to promote AM radio. They're just going where the younger listeners are. They were the last sports pbp in town that wasn't on FM in Pittsburgh. The Steelers saw this coming a long time ago, and insisted that Hearst simulcast them on FM more than 25 years ago. It was done over Ted Atkins' howls of protest.
The Pirates aren't conditioning younger listeners that AM is bad, they're just acknowledging that younger listeners don't pay very much attention to AM.
The Pirates have no need to promote AM radio. They're just going where the younger listeners are. They were the last sports pbp in town that wasn't on FM in Pittsburgh. The Steelers saw this coming a long time ago, and insisted that Hearst simulcast them on FM more than 25 years ago. It was done over Ted Atkins' howls of protest.
The Pirates aren't conditioning younger listeners that AM is bad, they're just acknowledging that younger listeners don't pay very much attention to AM.
Boss Radio said:The lack of promotion wasn't a financial issue for CBS, it was more creative/organizational.
The Pirates have no need to promote AM radio. They're just going where the younger listeners are. They were the last sports pbp in town that wasn't on FM in Pittsburgh. The Steelers saw this coming a long time ago, and insisted that Hearst simulcast them on FM more than 25 years ago. It was done over Ted Atkins' howls of protest.
The Pirates aren't conditioning younger listeners that AM is bad, they're just acknowledging that younger listeners don't pay very much attention to AM.
Yet history shows us that if you have a product that's desirable, and it's not available on FM, the listeners will come to AM if that's where it's available. Are you saying that if a younger Steelers fan wants to hear the game, and it's not airing on a local FM station, then he's not going to turn on the local AM station if he knows it's there?
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
Yet history shows us that if you have a product that's desirable, and it's not available on FM, the listeners will come to AM if that's where it's available.
Not only does history show us that, it's just simple common sense. If there's something on the radio that someone really wants to hear, why wouldn't they switch bands if that's all they had to do in order to hear it?
Not only does history show us that, it's just simple common sense. If there's something on the radio that someone really wants to hear, why wouldn't they switch bands if that's all they had to do in order to hear it?
kenhawk1160 said:Boss Radio said:The lack of promotion wasn't a financial issue for CBS, it was more creative/organizational.
The Pirates have no need to promote AM radio. They're just going where the younger listeners are. They were the last sports pbp in town that wasn't on FM in Pittsburgh. The Steelers saw this coming a long time ago, and insisted that Hearst simulcast them on FM more than 25 years ago. It was done over Ted Atkins' howls of protest.
The Pirates aren't conditioning younger listeners that AM is bad, they're just acknowledging that younger listeners don't pay very much attention to AM.
Yet history shows us that if you have a product that's desirable, and it's not available on FM, the listeners will come to AM if that's where it's available. Are you saying that if a younger Steelers fan wants to hear the game, and it's not airing on a local FM station, then he's not going to turn on the local AM station if he knows it's there?
Maybe he will, once someone shows him what the AM band is.
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
Maybe he will, once someone shows him what the AM band is.
And people give me a hard time about insulting replies!!!
And people give me a hard time about insulting replies!!!
How is that insulting? It's the truth. Younger listeners have little familiarity with the AM band because their favorite station has always been on FM. B-94 started in 1982, 25 years ago. 96KX went on the air 30 years ago. Those were the stations teens (and younger listeners) grew up with.
The generation that grew up with KQV and 13Q is all over 40 now.
The generation that grew up with KQV and 13Q is all over 40 now.
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
Younger listeners have little familiarity with the AM band
Younger listeners might not have any familiarity with the stations on the AM band, but to imply that they don't know the controls on their radios well enough to figure out that the button marked AM/FM is the one they have to push to switch over to AM is insulting.
Younger listeners might not have any familiarity with the stations on the AM band, but to imply that they don't know the controls on their radios well enough to figure out that the button marked AM/FM is the one they have to push to switch over to AM is insulting.
If they really wanted to attract a new audience they should have hired a new announce team. This is one of the weakest crews in baseball.
What I found interesting is that somehow CC convinced the Pirates that DVE would drive the audience to the games on 104.7 through the morning show, afternoon bits with Sean and other cross-promotion. We'll see.
What I found interesting is that somehow CC convinced the Pirates that DVE would drive the audience to the games on 104.7 through the morning show, afternoon bits with Sean and other cross-promotion. We'll see.
Call Me Sherlock said:For the first time ever, no Pirates broadcasts on KDKA when the season opens in just a few days.
well actually, the bucs way back in the 40's and 50's, when rosey rowswell was the radio voice of the bucs were on wwsw. i think they switched to kd about 1955 or so. and stayed there for 52 years.
i signed up for gameday audio on mlb.com. so the switch in flagships doesn't affect me any, plus i can get all the other team's radio broadcasts. yeah, it is $14.95 a year, but i feel is worth it. better deal yet is nhl.com, that streams all nhl teams radiocasts for free.
tb
Parttimer said:If they really wanted to attract a new audience they should have hired a new announce team. This is one of the weakest crews in baseball.
Agreed. The switch in flagships was a great chance to overhaul the mediocre crew and they didn't do it.
Timmyb is correct that the games were on WWSW in the late '40s and early '50s.
Parttimer said:If they really wanted to attract a new audience they should have hired a new announce team. This is one of the weakest crews in baseball.
I don't agree with that statement entirely. Lanny is very strong as a play-by-play guy. The weakness comes out of the color commentary. Bob Walk and Steve Blass, while very good pro baseball players now retired, they're not career broadcasters. To his credit, Walkie started out weak at first and then got stronger over the years.
Lanny's a pro but is jaded by all the losing seasons and gets very negative. Blass shouldn't do play-by-play, which he sometimes ends up doing, and Greg Brown was just never a favorite....
And it's not a big-market thing. Tampa Bay has a great TV crew, Dwayne Staats and Joe Magrane, and the radio guys are very solid as well (although the guys that did radio the first five years here were horrible).
And it's not a big-market thing. Tampa Bay has a great TV crew, Dwayne Staats and Joe Magrane, and the radio guys are very solid as well (although the guys that did radio the first five years here were horrible).
Lanny is a dullard who couldn't ad lib a burp. He used to be able to call the play-by-play very precisely, but that skill has eroded over the years. He's 59 now, so it probably isn't coming back. He's been here 32 years and has had minimal impact.
Blass pitched professionally for 15 years. He's been a broadcaster for 23 years.
Blass pitched professionally for 15 years. He's been a broadcaster for 23 years.
R
Radio_Realist
Guest
He used to be able to call the play-by-play very precisely, but that skill has eroded over the years.
Blass pitched professionally for 15 years. He's been a broadcaster for 23 years.
So, Lanny isn't a good broadcaster because he's been at it too long, but blass is a good broadcaster because he's been at it for a long time. Is that what you're saying?
If Blass started in pro baseball at 18, pitched for 15 years, and worked as a broadcaster for 23 years, that makes him around 56, only 3 years younger than Lanny. So, Lanny is a washed up has-been because he's 59, but Blass is still valuable at 56. Is that what you're saying?
Blass pitched professionally for 15 years. He's been a broadcaster for 23 years.
So, Lanny isn't a good broadcaster because he's been at it too long, but blass is a good broadcaster because he's been at it for a long time. Is that what you're saying?
If Blass started in pro baseball at 18, pitched for 15 years, and worked as a broadcaster for 23 years, that makes him around 56, only 3 years younger than Lanny. So, Lanny is a washed up has-been because he's 59, but Blass is still valuable at 56. Is that what you're saying?
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